Whitworth Baseball Swept in Doubleheader

SPOKANE, Wash. - Sixth-ranked Linfield
pounded 30 hits on the way to a Northwest Conference baseball doubleheader
sweep on Saturday at Whitworth. The Wildcats won the opener 5-2 and then
ran away with the nightcap 14-2 at Merkel Field.

Tim
Wilson, a transfer from the University of Washington, led the Wildcats with
seven hits, six runs scored, four RBIs and his first home run of the season in
the two games.

Linfield
improved to 17-3 overall and 10-1 in the NWC while Whitworth dropped to 9-11-1,
4-4. The teams will complete their three-game series on Sunday at noon.

Game 1 – Linfield 5, Whitworth 2
Chris Haddeland outdueled Dan Scheibe as the Wildcats won the series opener
.

After three and a half scoreless innings, the Pirates
jumped ahead in the fourth inning on Tyler Pfeffer's RBI double
to right-center field. But Linfield got two in the sixth to take a lead
it would not give up. With Wilson on third base and one out, Scheibe
struck out Jake Wylie. But the ball was in the dirt and Wylie got to
first when the throw got away, which allowed Wilson to score and tie the game.
A single and walk loaded the bases for Nick Fisher. Fisher drove a ball
to the wall in left field, but it only went as a single as the runners had to
hold in case of a catch. Wylie scored from third base, but Kramer Lindell
was thrown out trying to score from second.

Back to back doubles by Jordan Harlow and Wilson drove
in Linfield's third run in the seventh. Whitworth got back within 3-2 in
the eighth. With runners at second and third and one out, Josh Davis hit into a fielder's choice with Jeremy Druffel getting thrown out at third and Nick Motsinger coming
home. After another single, Haddeland got out of trouble when he cleanly
fielded Gerhard Muelheims' hard
grounder back up the middle.

The
Wildcats added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth inning in Wylie's two-run
single.

Haddeland improved to 5-1 with his complete-game
effort. He allowed the two Pirate runs on seven hits with six strikeouts
and two walks. Scheibe dropped to 2-2 after giving up three runs on seven
hits in 6.1 innings. He struck out seven Wildcats and walked two. Nick Scourey threw the final 2.2 innings for the
Bucs.

Lindell
finished 4-5 at the plate for Linfield, but did not factor into any runs.
Wilson, Fisher and Harlow each had a pair of hits.

The
seven Whitworth hits were scattered among seven Pirate players. Motsinger
scored both runs for the Bucs.

Game 2 – Linfield 14, Whitworth 2
Wilson went 5-6, scored five times and drove in three runs while hitting his
first homer of the season to lift the Wildcats to the victory. Linfield
also got another strong pitching performance from Aaron Thomassen.

Like in the opener, Whitworth jumped ahead 1-0 when Thomas Wakem scored on Erik Nikssarian's
fielder's choice in the second inning. But Linfield went in front with a
pair in the third and never trailed again. Fisher had an RBI single in
the third.

The
Wildcats made it 5-1 in the fourth. Lindell had a two-run double in that
three-run rally. Wylie's RBI double in the sixth made it 6-1 and the
'Cats added a second unearned run in the inning.

Danny Jordan's RBI single
got Whitworth within 7-2 in the bottom of the sixth, but Linfield added on two
more runs in the seventh. Wilson and Wylie had RBI singles in the frame
to increase the 'Cats' lead to 9-2.

Linfield
poured on five more runs in the top of the ninth, beginning with Wilson's home
run over the right field wall.

In
addition to Wilson's big game at the plate, Wylie finished 2-4 with three RBIs
while Fisher had two hits and two RBIs.

Blake Thoren went 3-3 for Whitworth, but did not
score or drive in a run. Druffel and Davis each had a pair of hits for
the Pirates.

Thomassen
(5-0) scattered eight hits over 6.1 innings, allowing two runs (one earned)
with three strikeouts and three walks. Garrett Speyer finished up with
2.2 innings of scoreless relief.

Carson Blumenthal (3-1) dropped his first decision of
the season after giving up six runs (three earned) on eight hits in 5.0 innings
with two strikeouts and five walks. Four other Pirates followed on the
mound and combined to allow eight runs on 10 hits.

2018-02-20T04:43:52Z2018-02-20T04:43:50ZFor the first time all season both the Griz and Lady Griz get swept over the weekend. Head Coach Travis DeCuire talks about where his team is at after a buzzer beater loss to Idaho while Ahmaad Rorie talks about getting to the 1,000 point club. Lady Griz Head Coach Shannon Schweyen talks about what they need to do to turn things around with three games to go and Senior Kayleigh Valley talks about sitting out the last two years with torn ACL's